A Waldorf man died early Wednesday when a fatal medical event caused him to crash his car.

At 1:46 a.m., Charles County sheriff’s officers were called to the intersection of St. Charles Parkway and Smallwood Drive in Waldorf to investigate a reported traffic accident. According to information from the sheriff’s office, Benjamin Bronson Jr., 52, was driving his Honda Accord south on St. Charles Parkway when he left the roadway and struck a tree.

Officers found Bronson unconscious and not breathing. He was taken to Civista Medical Center in La Plata, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that Bronson died of a medical event and not as a result of injuries.

Because the death was due to a health problem and not the crash, the sheriff’s office does not consider it a traffic fatality.